Had my first chance to work with titanium today (6-4) - strange metal to cut, drill, grind, etc. I was planning to "pin-on" the bolsters with 1/8" 6-4 Ti rod. The question is, is it possible to peen the pins with this material or will it just crack or crumble?? I don't have the rod yet to do this, it's on order, but based on the properties of the metal I observed today I'm just not sure it's going to "smash" and expand in the holes like I thought it would.
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question about titanium
- Thread starter edK69
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- Oct 6, 1998
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It can be done. With that said, it's a 50/50, depending on how hard the rod is. There isn't a good alternative since CP will look slightly different.
What I've experienced is to not leave as much above the surface as you would with steel pins. Start tapping in the center and work to the outside. I've never made them disappear like with stainless steel, but pretty close.
Good luck.
What I've experienced is to not leave as much above the surface as you would with steel pins. Start tapping in the center and work to the outside. I've never made them disappear like with stainless steel, but pretty close.
Good luck.
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Ed, they tend to chip off around the corners. Heating them up just makes them harder normally. Ti is a different animal. Experiment.
Polishing and doming the head helps.
On my framelocks I use a shouldered backstop pin. In the solid side it's a hammer fit and I dome the end of it. I just tap, tap until I see the hole expanding then grind it flush.
Polishing and doming the head helps.
On my framelocks I use a shouldered backstop pin. In the solid side it's a hammer fit and I dome the end of it. I just tap, tap until I see the hole expanding then grind it flush.
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith
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Make the fit as tight as possible,too.Put the pins in the freezer to shrink them a bit before insertion ,for the best snug fit.( haven't tried it on titanium pins,but it works great on stainless bolster pins)
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Commercially Pure. It's softer and would pin better but it just looks different, especially bead blasted. Might get away with a satin finish on it but it won't anodize the same color.
Years ago I built a liner lock with 6Al4V on the split side and CP on the solid side. Didn't think much about it until I tried to color it. Kept getting different colors and finally it dawned on me.
Years ago I built a liner lock with 6Al4V on the split side and CP on the solid side. Didn't think much about it until I tried to color it. Kept getting different colors and finally it dawned on me.
bladsmth said:
Yeh, that's my problem. For some reason when I drilled my (Ti) bolsters with the same 1/8" carbide bit a couple of the holes came out a bit oversized. I cut small piece of Ti bar today (.10) and experimented with some 1/8" nickel silver rod and peened it into the hole and polished it to see what it'd look like. It came out OK, just slightly different. BTW, I don't plan to anodize these. I may just have to order some larger Ti rod and take my time and do it right.